Anthony Davis gets to show his former Olympic mentors tonight all he has learned.

The surging Knicks get their first look at the Hornets' No. 1 overall pick at New Orleans Arena, but Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler got a tall taste of the springy 6-foot-10 former Kentucky big man all summer long.

Anthony was not the only player to get a lot out of the Olympics. The 19-year-old Davis was a member of the U.S. team, and — like Anthony — added a gold medal to his NCAA championship.

The soft-spoken Davis probably would not be as polished and productive a rookie if not for getting instruction on defense from Chandler and offense from Anthony during their five weeks as teammates. With Anthony at power forward, he and Davis will go mano-a-mano.

"He's a great player,'' Davis said. "Hopefully, he can make me better. It's going to be a challenge. He was helpful [during the Olympics]. He has that faceup game down pat.

"We just joke around. I would just do it and try to imitate him. But he'd actually tell you, 'This is what you need to do.' He helped me a lot. He's a funny guy. He can definitely play the game of basketball. They both really work, and I know [tonight] they're going to be very aggressive and we have to match their intensity.''

Davis, who played guard when he was 5-foot-9 early in high school, is showing he is not just a defensive prodigy. When John Calipari got him at Kentucky, he told the world he had the next Marcus Camby, whom he coached at UMass.

But Davis is erupting, showing his staggering potential Saturday in Milwaukee when he collected a career-high 28 points, making 10 of 14 field goals and eight of nine from the free-throw line with 11 rebounds. Everything he threw up around the rim fell though, including some circus shots.